A forgotten musical that Oliver! composer Lionel Bart was working on when he died is finally to receive its world premiere.

The King’s Head Theatre in Islington will unveil Quasimodo, based on the story of the Hunchback of Notre Dame, in March with ambitions of transferring to the West End.

Bart first embarked on the show in 1963 but for many years it fell victim to his battles with depression and alcoholism.

But once he got his life back on track, it progressed as far as a series of workshops in 1995 and a recording with Bart himself on the piano.

Ray Shell, who is now playing the manager in the new musical of The Bodyguard, was preparing the title role with Tony Award winner Frances Ruffelle as Esmeralda with whom the hunchback falls in love.

But the project fell apart when the composer was diagnosed with cancer and died in 1999 aged 68.

Adam Spreadbury-Maher, artistic director of the King’s Head, said the show would be their first musical at the venue after success with operas and plays - and he wanted something new and British. “Lionel Bart is the father of the modern British musical,” he said.

Ray Shell said he was “very excited” it was finally being staged and would still love to appear in it himself eventually. “Quasimodo’s my role. I was the first,” he said.

Referring to Andrew Lloyd Webber’s long-running hit, he added: “I would say that Quasimodo is Lionel Bart’s Phantom of the Opera. It’s a very layered work, very sensual. It will surprise people who know him for pop tunes and Oliver! With no disrespect to Oliver! which is probably one of the finest 20th century musicals, it’s a lot deeper than that. It’s a very magical piece. He wrote in a way he hadn’t before.”

Bart himself described the 1939 film version with Charles Laughton and “the story of this marvellous sol within a monstrous body” as his inspiration.

The King’s head production will use a cast of eight - yet to be announced - which will be expanded if it goes to the West End. The show will run from March 20 to April 13. www.kingsheadtheatre.com